Unfriendly skies for split family

Watchdog

If you're flying with your kids for the holidays, this might freak you out. Even if you have confirmed seats together, your little one may be seated with strangers.

That's what happened to Brian Stine of Allentown.

He and his wife took their two daughters to Disney World in June. The trip was great, until the flight home on United Airlines.

They flew through Washington Dulles International Airport, and when boarding the plane to Lehigh Valley International, were told they couldn't be seated together, despite having confirmed seats.

"You just have to go on the plane and they'll tell you where you're sitting," Stine said they were told at the gate.

He said the flight attendant pointed out a few scattered seats.

"I'm not asking anybody to move," Stine said she told them. "Could you please just find your seat?"

He was steamed, but so was everyone on the plane because the air conditioning wasn't working. He said it was clear the crew didn't want to irritate sweating passengers by asking them to play musical chairs.

The family split up. Stine sat near the front. His wife sat in the back, with their 2-year-old daughter on her lap. They'd bought her a seat, but none was open.

Their 6-year-old daughter sat in the middle -- with strangers.

"I wasn't real comfortable with that," Stine said.

But there was nothing they could do, and the older couple seated with his daughter said they'd help her.

That's reassuring, but not good enough. United let the family down. Kids are scared enough when they fly and should have a parent nearby.

United also let other passengers down. The older couple shouldn't have been forced by the airline to baby-sit.

Let's not even discuss what could have happened if the girl got sick, or there was an emergency aboard. You'd think the liability alone would prompt a new policy from United. I mean, did they do a background check on the people they placed this child with?

When they got home, Stine asked United to refund $51 for the seat their 2-year-old couldn't use. He said United agreed to refund it to the credit card used to make the reservation.

Stine asked for a check instead, because that card account had been closed. He said United told him it would credit the card anyway, and it would be up to the card company to issue the refund.

Three or four months later, the refund hadn't arrived. Stine asked the Watchdog for help.

"A refund of $51.32 is jokingly funny considering what we endured on this plane ride," he told me by e-mail.

He's right. The refund is a minor point in this fiasco. I asked United about the money and also asked why it wouldn't honor the Stines' assigned seats and sat a little girl with strangers.

United called Stine a few hours after I raised the questions. It agreed to send a check for the refund, and threw in four $250 ticket vouchers for their trouble.

Stine said the customer service agent didn't offer an explanation for splitting them up.

A United spokeswoman told me the airline switched the aircraft model after the reservations were made, resulting in a different seating configuration.

She apologized for the Stines' experience and said United works with families when these situations arise. She said families should discuss their needs with airline staff.

Stine said the United employees his family encountered were anything but helpful. He said there was no gate staff at Dulles. The pilot was manning the counter and couldn't provide information when asked.

He said there also was no boarding announcement, and the Stines knew their flight was departing only because they saw people lining up.

Airlines typically invite families with small children to board first, which in this case may have increased the chance the Stines could have sat together. The lack of an announcement blew that opportunity.

If you're traveling with kids, confirm your seat assignments before heading to the airport, especially if you booked a long time ago. It also can't hurt to check at the gate -- assuming there's an attendant -- to confirm again everything is in order, even if you've already checked in online or at a kiosk.

The sooner you know about trouble, the more time you'll have to fix it.

By the way, Stine said this wasn't an isolated instance. The family also was divided on the flight into Orlando, though both kids sat with their mom that time.

Stine's seat was taken, he said, by someone who had switched seats to be with a companion.

So Stine sat among strangers. One of them was a boy, about 10 or 12, who had been split from his family.

The Watchdog is published Thursdays and Sundays. Contact me by e-mail at watchdog@mcall.com, by phone at 610-841-2364 (ADOG), by fax at 610-820-6693, or by mail at The Morning Call, 101 N. Sixth St., Allentown, PA, 18101. Follow me on Twitter at mcwatchdog.

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